Joao Winckler

Never thought about virus accumulation being behind patch decline before, but it makes sense. I've had a bed that was really productive the first couple of years and then slowly just got worse, always assumed it was the soil. Might try growing some from seed this winter and see if a fresh start makes a difference.

That HP sauce recipe is brilliant, bookmarking this whole thread. My tree had a decent year and I've been doing mostly jam but the savoury sauce angle hadn't really crossed my mind. Plum and apple together makes sense anyway, they ripen at the same time.

Paper bag or cloth bag tucked in a low cupboard does the job. The main thing is definitely keeping light out, wicker alone won't help unless wherever you're putting it is already dark. We used to keep ours on a shelf in the pantry and got the same problem after a reorganise, moved them inside a cupboard and it sorted itself out.

Mix it with nettle and fry it up with egg and you get something pretty good. The texture can get a bit slimy if you boil it too long, better to cook it quick on high heat. I use the leaves before they get too big, younger ones are less fibrous.

Wood chip mulch is worth looking into for fruit trees and roses in that kind of heat, thick layer keeps moisture in and weeds down pretty well. Less fuss than coir and usually cheaper if you can get tree surgeon chippings for free.

We tried the plastic edging and it just moved around, grass found its way under anyway. Ended up going thick woodchip mulch and accepting a bit of edge-weeding. Once the guilds get established they do start shading out a lot of the competition. Comfrey around the outside like Nancy says is good once it bulks up, the leaves are too big for grass to get through underneath.

The wheelbarrow width test is the one I always come back to. If it can't take a loaded barrow it's more of a stroll path than a working garden path. And water is everything, a perfectly graded path turns into a mud pit by November if you haven't thought about drainage.

South facing slope with a surplus of logs to use up, sounds like the setup is practically begging for hugelkultur. The one thing I'd keep in mind on a 30 degree slope is that water runs off fast, so burying the wood deep enough to act as a sponge matters more than usual. The bedrock at 2ft should be less of an issue once the mound adds height above it.

Cutting below the waterline a few times per season sets them back without needing any power. One cut doesn't do much but two or three in the same season makes a real difference. Cheaper than windmill aeration as a starting point anyway.

Zone 7 here too and had exactly the same issue with spring sowing. Eventually just scattered some in autumn and left them to do their thing over winter, and they came up fine the following spring. Took two failed seasons to figure that out.